Posts from the “1980s” Category

Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition

Posted on July 26, 2016

Photo: Lolita, directed by Stanley Kubrick (GB/United States; 1960-62). Sue Lyon as Dolores “Lolita” Haze. © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

In one of those random moments that made up so much of 1999, R.A. The Rugged Man dropped a track called “Stanley Kubrick” on Soundbombing II. And, like everything that is Kubrick, it was an exquisite fit, though the song had nothing to do with him. It was about life out in Suffolk County where, “Cops frisk us, their handcuffs never fit us. Our wrists turn purple, that’s why we act vicious. Plus if we die tomorrow, won’t nobody miss us.” But the Capital the Crimelord track, the murky yet alluring baseline to the beat that R.A. rode with those lyrics, had a pure “Stanley Kubrick” feel.

And perhaps that is because the master understood. As Kubrick observed, “A film is—or should be—more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what’s behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later.”

Kubrick understood the power of impact, of heightening the senses with the precision of the conductor of an orchestra, soaring to operatic crescendos and crashing from precarious heights, taking us along for the ride. The layers of experience, insight, and understanding in a Kubrick film require multiple viewings, or should you be so inclined, additional materials by which to consider his work from multiple points of view.

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The Shining, directed by Stanley Kubrick (GB/United States; 1978-1980). Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) at the hotel bar. © Warner Bros. Ent.

Categories: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, Art, Crave, Exhibitions

Raphael Albert: Miss Black and Beautiful

Posted on July 19, 2016

Raphael Albert (1935-2009) archive 1960 -1980, including beauty pageants such as Miss Black and Beautiful and Miss West Indies in Great Britain; as well as documentary photographs and family portraits of the local community in West London.

Photo: (unidentified) Miss Black & Beautiful with fellow contestants, London, Hammersmith Palais, 1970s. From the portfolio “Black Beauty Pageants”. Courtesy of © Raphael Albert/Autograph ABP.

Hailing from the Caribbean island of Grenada, photographer Raphael Albert (1935–2009) moved to London in 1953 where he became a freelance photographer working for black British newspapers. One of his earliest assignments changed the shape of his destiny, as he covered the Miss Jamaica beauty pageant for West Indian World.

Inspired by the spirit of the times Raphael began hosting local beauty pageants for black women before packed crowds at the legendary Hammersmith Palais in West London, a tradition that continued for more than three decades, into the 1980s. With titles like Miss Black and Beautiful, Miss West Indies in Great Britain, and Miss Grenada, Albert cast aside the European standards of beauty in order to shine a spotlight on the inherent beauty of the African race, showcasing women of all skin tones, hair types, and facial features in the mix.

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Photo: Holley posing at Blythe Road, Hammersmith, London, early 1970s. From the portfolio “Black Beauty Pageants”. Courtesy of © Raphael Albert/Autograph ABP.

Photo: (unidentifed) Miss Black & Beautiful escorted by two men, Hammersmith Palais, London, 1970s. From the portfolio “Black Beauty Pageants”. Courtesy of © Raphael Albert/Autograph ABP.

Categories: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, Art, Crave, Exhibitions, Photography, Women

Danny Lyon: Message to the Future

Posted on July 7, 2016

Artwork: Danny Lyon, “Tesca, Cartagena, Colombia,” 1966. Cibachrome, printed 2008. Image 25.7 × 25.7 cm (10 1/8 × 10 1/8 in.). Collection of the artist.

Danny Lyon does it like nobody else. Born in Brooklyn in 1942, he transformed photography into one of the most astounding arts of documentary possibilities. A self-described “dissenter in my own country,” Lyon took to the edges of American life to document the country from the inside out, removing the veils of appearance politics to reveal the truth about this country in black and white like no one before—or since.

A self-taught photographer, filmmaker, and writer, Lyon’s work exemplifies the best aspects of New Journalism. Forsaking the industry’s so-called “objectivity” in favor of using the media as a means to an ends greater than the story itself. Whether on the front lines of the Civil Rights movement or behind the bars of the Texas State Penitentiary, Lyon used photography to bear witness to causes, movements, and historical moments that were happening in the here and now.

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Categories: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Art, Books, Crave, Exhibitions, Photography

Mel Rosenthal: In the South Bronx of America

Posted on June 23, 2016

Photo: The daily domino game in front of the Social Club. 1976-1982. Gelatin silver print. Museum of the City of New York, Gift of Roberta Perrymapp, 2013.12.28. © Mel Rosenthal.

Politicians leave a paper trail by which we can reflect on the historic record as it was put into play by policy decisions that are criminal minded. In 1970, New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan took a proposal to the Nixon White House that he described as “benign neglect.” Moynihan advocated for the government to withdraw from dealing with the systemic issues plaguing the African American community, and in doing so, services were suspended in neighborhoods where they needed it most. In its place Moynihan advocated for increased surveillance and “studies,” much like the nonsense he was pedaling here.

But this being Tricky Dick Nixon, the message was warmly received, ushering in more than a decade of psychopathic patriarchy—which included the blind eye turned as landlords hired arsonists to burn down buildings in order to collect the insurance money, leaving neighborhoods in ruins. A war was being waged in plain sight, but there was nothing that could be done until the land was ravished completely. Between 1970 and 1980, 44 census tracts in the Bronx lost more than half of their buildings to fire and abandonment, with seven tracts losing a staggering 97%.

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Life carries on in the War Zone. 1975-1981. Gelatin silver print. Museum of the City of New York, Gift of Roberta Perrymapp, 2013.12.1

Categories: 1970s, 1980s, Art, Bronx, Crave, Exhibitions, Photography

Bruce Davidson: Magnum Legacy

Posted on June 20, 2016

Photo: Bruce Davidson USA. New York City. 1980. Subway. ©Bruce Davidson/Magnum Photos, courtesy of Prestel.

“When I was a kid, I played baseball and you heard the sound the bat made when it really connected with the ball; you knew you had a great hit. It’s the same with photography: sometimes you hear that click of the shutter and you know you’ve caught something really special,” observes American photographer Bruce Davidson (b. 1933).

Davidson, a member of Magnum Photos since 1958, authored some of the most seminal monographs of the twentieth century including Brooklyn Gang, East 100 Street, and Subway. He is now the subject of a new book, Bruce Davidson: Magnum Legacy by Vicki Goldberg (Prestel), which explores the photographer’s life work in photography. Davidson speaks with Crave about his work and about the magic of photography that kept him hooked in a career that spans six decades.

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Categories: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, Art, Books, Brooklyn, Crave, Manhattan, Photography

Antonio López: Future Funk Fashion

Posted on June 17, 2016

Artwork: Antonio Lopez, Carol Labrie, NYC, 1969, Marker and color overlay, 18” x 24”, Courtesy of the Estate of Antonio Lopez & Juan Ramos.

Antonio López is a Nuyorican legend. Born in Utado, Puerto Rico in 1943, he was just two years old when he began to sketch dresses from fabric his mother had given him. At the age of seven, his family moved to New York City, Spanish Harlem to be exact. Back in the days, the neighborhood was riddled with gangs as brilliantly depicted in Piri Thomas’s memoir, Down These Mean Streets. To keep her son off the streets, López’s mother, a seamstress, asked him to draw flowers for her embroideries. He also helped his father, a mannequin maker, to apply make-up an stitch wigs on to figures.

Such home training portended beautifully, as López earned a scholarship to the prestigious Traphagen School of Fashion, which provided Saturday programming for children. From there he went on to attend the High School of Art and Design and the Fashion Institute of Technology. While at F.IT., he began an internship at Women’s Wear Daily, which lead to a position on staff. He left school, and that’s when everything began.

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Antonio Lopez, Dream Girls, American Vogue, 1977, Pencil & watercolor, 18” x 24”, Courtesy Estate of Antonio Lopez & Juan Ramos.

Categories: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, Art, Crave, Exhibitions, Latin America, Manhattan

Who I Am: Rediscovered Portraits from Apartheid South Africa

Posted on June 16, 2016

Photo: S. J. Moodley, [Boy with sunglasses in a chair], ca. 1978. Courtesy The Walther Collection.

South African photographer Singarum “Kitty” Jeevaruthnam Moodley was born into an Indian family in the province now known as KwaZulu-Natal in 1922. At the age of 35, he left his job working as a machinist in a shoe factory to establish Kitty’s Studio, a family-run photographic studio in the mid-sized city of Pietermaritzburg, which he ran for three decades, until his death in 1987.

After his death, many of the studio’s negatives were purchased by the Campbell Collections in Durban, now part of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Those deemed incompatible with the historical collection were culled from the archive and some 1,400 negatives were ultimately acquired by Columbia University professor Dr. Steven C. Dubin—and thus a legacy has been cultivated and preserved.

Dr. Dubin has co-organized a new exhibition of work, Who I Am: Rediscovered Portraits from Apartheid South Africa, now on view at The Walther Collection Project Space, New York, through September 3, 2016. The portraits were taken between 1972 and 1984, offering a new look at the history of South Africa. A passionate community activist and fervent opponent of apartheid, Kitty’s photographs speak to the love and high regard he held for his fellow wo/man.

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S. J. Moodley, [Three men dancing in a line], 1975
Read more at http://www.craveonline.com/art/996071-secret-histories-real-south-africa-seen-man-called-kitty#TEp93rt5prHJ3TQa.99. Courtesy The Walther Collection.

Categories: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, Africa, Art, Crave, Exhibitions, Photography

Neil Leifer: Relentless

Posted on June 6, 2016

Photo: Photo: Neil Leifer (United States, b. 1942). Muhammad Ali reacts after his first round knockout of Sonny Liston during the 1965 World Heavyweight Title fight at St. Dominic’s Arena in Lewiston, Maine, May 25, 1965.

It was one of the most controversial fights in boxing history: Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston, for the 1965 title of WBC Heavyweight Champion. It was a hotly anticipated rematch, one made all the more fervent by recent history. Just a year earlier, Cassius Clay beat Liston and taken the title with a technical knockout. Two days later, Clay publicly announced he was a member of the Nation of Islam and adopted the name Cassius X before taking the name that would make him one of the most famous men on earth on March 6, 1964.

When the rematch came along, it was more than a boxing match. It was an epic vision of self-liberation. By aligning himself with the practices and politics of the NOI, Ali was vilified. Perhaps that’s why the only thing they could do was deny the facts. Two minutes and twelve seconds. That’s all it took. Midway through the first round, Liston through a left and Ali countered with a right, an “anchor punch” he learned from actor Stepin Fechit, of all folks. Liston went down on his back, rolled over, tried to rise, and fell back again. It was a wrap for Sonny. But you couldn’t tell his fans nothin’. They called it “Phantom Punch Fight” and yelled, “Fix!” sounding like a 1960’s version of Donald Trump.

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Categories: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Art, Books, Crave, Exhibitions, Photography

Attitude: Portraits by Mary Ellen Mark, 1964–2015

Posted on May 31, 2016

Photo: Gloria and Raja, Great Gemini Circus, Perintalmanna, India, 1989. ©May Ellen Mark, courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery.

“I’m most interested in finding the strangeness and irony in reality. That’s my forte,” American photographer Mary Ellen Mark (1940–2015) observed, very much aware of the gift she brought to the world. Her passion for the camera and the way in which it captured the curious sides of life can be seen in her life’s work. For five decades, Mark was a singular figure in the medium, producing a series of work that speaks to her love for humanity in its infinite forms.

Attitude: Portraits by Mary Ellen Mark, 1964–2015, now on view at Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, through June 18, 2016, presents nearly 40 works from the artist’s singular archive. Melissa Harris, editor-at-large at Aperture Foundation, curated the show, selection works from Mark’s famous series, each of them sparkling with life and revealing an intense curiosity about the nature of our days and nights.

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Categories: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Art, Crave, Exhibitions, Manhattan, Photography

Con Cariño: Artists Inspired by Lowriders

Posted on May 25, 2016

Photo: Meridel Rubenstein. The Medina Family, Bad Company, ’68 Chevy Impala, Chimayó, New Mexico. 1980. Chromogenic print. Courtesy of the artist. © Meridel Rubenstein.

Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales has declared 2016 “Lowrider Summer” with Sunday, May 22 the first official Lowrider Day, kicking off a series of exhibitions and events citywide including Con Cariño: Artists Inspired by Lowriders, on view at the New Mexico Museum of Art, now through October 10, 2016.

Featuring more than fifty works from the 1970s to the present, Con Cariño features photographs, paintings, sculptures, and videos from contemporary New Mexico artists including Lawrence Baca and Ron Rodriguez, Justin Favela, El Moisés, Meridel Rubenstein, Rose B. Simpson, Luis Tapia, and Don Usner, among others.

The beauty of the lowrider lies in the love for the automobile and the ability to customize it to become the ultimate personal driving experience. The first lowriders appeared in Los Angeles during the 1940s and ‘50s, as post-war prosperity swept through Los Angeles, finding itself in pockets of Mexican-American neighborhoods. The kids had style, and they had finesse. And they were going to cruise as low and slow as they could get.

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Categories: 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Art, Crave, Exhibitions, Photography

Christopher Makos: Portraits of An Era

Posted on May 21, 2016

Photo: Portraits of An Era, Polaroid Collage #1 (1975–1984), ©Christopher Makos, courtesy of Makos Studio, New York and Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles.

Back in the early 1970s, Polaroid introduced the SX-70, a revolution in photography. Here was the medium at the height of modernity. Into a camera that snapped open and shut, film cartridges were inserted. Then the camera was aimed: point, click, and shoot—and a square-format image came sliding out. The film developed there, right before your eyes. People couldn’t hold back, they started shaking the print to make the image come in faster.

Suddenly, a revolution was born. It was a party in a camera. It was instant gratification. And the colors—the colors were out of this world. They had nuance and depth, adding a certain touch and creating an instant patina of nostalgia, yet forever au courant.

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Categories: 1970s, 1980s, Art, Crave, Photography